Difference between Associates/Staff Attorneys? Forum

[BasketCaseBrief]

What is the difference between an Associate, and a Staff Attorney? Types of work, salary, track to Partner, benefits, hours, etc. all would be useful as well. Thanks in advance.

[RVP11]

Associate good staff attorney bad

[underdawg]

associates do a lot of doc review/diligence

staff attorneys do a LOOOOOOOT of doc review/diligence

[underachiever]

Associate good staff attorney bad

+1

Staff attorney usually has no future with the firm, gets paid by the hour (much less $) and does permanent document review....THIS SUCKS

Associate could make partner, gets paid salary, may one day get to do actual legal work like meet with clients or litigate in court

[nealric]

Staff attorneys are basically permanent temps. They generally do nothing but doc review (which is consists of sorting piles of electronic documents into "relevant" and "not relevant" categories). Pay is ok, but no job security. Bottom line is that it is a dead-end job.

Associates are regular full time attorneys.

[Anonymous User]

some staff attorneys at large firms are paid 100K. not bad not bad.

[tengorazon]

To echo the above posters: associates are on partnership track, receive the pay you read about in the blogs, and do a higher caliber of work. Staff attorneys don't do much beyond doc review. A further distinction may be drawn between staff attorneys and contract attorneys. Contract attorneys have even less job security. At my firm, however, a contract attorney that stays for at least 90 days can be considered for a staff attorney job, which actually comes with some benefits. I actually know some people who prefer the staff/contract attorney position because of the flexibility...once you've done your X amount of documents for the day, you go home. And I think there's flexibility in terms of the amount you can sign up for. But by and large, most people don't want to be contract/staff attorneys.

And they don't just do doc review. An example of something we've recently had staff attorneys do: go through several days of deposition transcripts and count the number of "I don't knows" a witness gave in response to questioning.

[Lord Jim-ish]

.

[nealric]

And they don't just do doc review. An example of something we've recently had staff attorneys do: go through several days of deposition transcripts and count the number of "I don't knows" a witness gave in response to questioning.

I think I would be near suicidal if that was my job after 7.5 years of higher education.

[ToTransferOrNot]

And they don't just do doc review. An example of something we've recently had staff attorneys do: go through several days of deposition transcripts and count the number of "I don't knows" a witness gave in response to questioning.

I think I would be near suicidal if that was my job after 7.5 years of higher education.

See generally (or, if you're a crazy maroonbooker, "Consider") [The Titles of all of the Studies Demonstrating the High Depression Rates in the Legal Profession Compared to Other Professions (online at http://www.jdunderground.com).

Edit: Also at lots of reputable sites, but it's always nice to have a chance to direct someone to JDU.

[nealric]

Edit: Also at lots of reputable sites, but it's always nice to have a chance to direct someone to JDU.

Yes, I am familiar with JDU.

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